A comprehensive report detailing Australia’s progress towards meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, highlighting major challenges in reducing inequality and tackling climate change, will be officially launched tomorrow.
Transforming Australia: SDG Progress Report, identifies where Australia is performing well and where it is not on track to meet the 17 priority UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The goals encompass a set of economic, social and environmental targets to be met by 2030.
The report has been prepared by the National Sustainable Development Council in partnership with Monash Sustainable Development Insitute and SDSN Australia, New Zealand & Pacific. It draws on independent expertise from across business, universities and the community sector. The report looks at trends between 2000 to 2015 to gauge whether Australia is on track to meet the SDG targets.
National Sustainable Development Council Chair, Professor John Thwaites, said the analysis showed Australia’s progress on achieving the SDGs by 2030 was mixed.
“There is strong progress in the areas of health and education, but poor performance in addressing inequality, tackling climate change and housing affordability,” he said.
“The report also highlights key challenges in achieving Australia’s economic goals with relatively low investment in research and development and innovation, increasing underemployment and high levels of household debt.
“Of the 144 indicators assessed across the 17 goals, about one-third were determined to be on track, more than one-third needed improvement or a breakthrough and one-quarter are off-track or deteriorating.
“Despite some good progress the report found almost every goal has at least one target where an important indicator is off track or will require a breakthrough to be achieved.
“For example, life expectancy in Australia is among the highest in the world, and smoking rates and road traffic deaths have fallen dramatically. However, challenges remain with a high prevalence of lifestyle related risks including obesity and deaths due to road accidents in remote areas five times higher than in cities.
“Similarly, Australia is an increasingly educated society, with a growing proportion of the population gaining tertiary qualifications. While Australian student performance on the key OECD benchmark has been declining across science, maths and reading, Australian students perform very well as collaborative problem solvers. On the downside, investment in early childhood education and care remains low.
“It is clear that Australia has a considerable way to go to achieving most of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and that this will require a major change from business as usual.
“Despite our history of strong economic growth, our children and grandchildren face the prospect of being worse off than we are unless we address inequality, climate change and cost of living pressures.”
Louise Davidson, CEO of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, said the report also highlights the need for business leaders to engage in wider community conversations.
“The report highlights ACSI research which shows increasing engagement among ASX200 companies around wider societal challenges such as gender equality and climate action. While this is a positive sign, it also reflects growing awareness among business of the need to do more to maintain community trust and support,” Ms Davidson said.
The report has been supported by Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, HESTA, cbus, IFM and AustralianSuper.
Economy – Prosperous But Not Prepared
On-Track:
Off-Track:
Society – Moving forward but unevenly
On-Track:
Off-track:
Energy affordability – In the past decade, the retail price of electricity has more than doubled which means Australians now pay higher electricity prices than most other OECD countries. The 20 per cent of Australian households with the lowest incomes are spending 4-5 per cent of their household budget just on electricity.
Water affordability, as indicated by those who spend more than 3 per cent of their income on water services, has worsened, with the lower 40 per cent now spending more than 3 per cent of their income.
Housing affordability – the ratio of house prices compared to household disposable incomes increased by 51 per cent between 2000 and 2016.
Environment – Still Australia’s Achilles Heel
On-Track:
Off-Track
For more information or to access the Transforming Australia: SDG Progress Report website go to: https://www.sdgtransformingaustralia.com
The report has been supported by Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, HESTA, cbus, IFM and AustralianSuper.